diff --git a/app/services/platforms/reddit_comment.py b/app/services/platforms/reddit_comment.py
index 7461a6c..62794f1 100644
--- a/app/services/platforms/reddit_comment.py
+++ b/app/services/platforms/reddit_comment.py
@@ -73,8 +73,12 @@ def _find_sticky(
     """
     # TODO: use session_file for authenticated requests on private subs
     url = f"https://www.reddit.com/r/{sub}/hot.json?limit=10"
-    response = httpx.get(url, headers={"User-Agent": "magpie/1.0"})
-    response.raise_for_status()
+    try:
+        response = httpx.get(url, headers={"User-Agent": "magpie/1.0"}, timeout=10)
+        response.raise_for_status()
+    except httpx.HTTPError as exc:
+        logger.warning("Reddit hot.json request failed for r/%s: %s", sub, exc)
+        raise RuntimeError(f"Failed to fetch hot listing for r/{sub}") from exc
     payload = response.json()
     if "data" not in payload:
         logger.warning("Unexpected Reddit API response: %r", payload)
diff --git a/tests/services/platforms/test_reddit_comment_strategy.py b/tests/services/platforms/test_reddit_comment_strategy.py
index 9bc7513..6150bb6 100644
--- a/tests/services/platforms/test_reddit_comment_strategy.py
+++ b/tests/services/platforms/test_reddit_comment_strategy.py
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ def strategy():
     return RedditCommentStrategy()
 
 
-def test_execute_with_url_override(strategy, monkeypatch):
+def test_execute_with_url_override(strategy):
     """Uses thread_url_override to get thread_id, calls client.comment()"""
     mock_client = MagicMock()
     mock_client.comment.return_value = "https://www.reddit.com/r/flipping/comments/abc123/_/xyz789/"